Do we ever get to say we are "cured"?

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emmahandy
emmahandy Member Posts: 5
edited November 2018 in Middle Age 40-60(ish) Years Old With Breast Cancer

I am tired of cancer.  When do we get to say we are cured and bid farewell to our oncologist?

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  • Springlakegirl
    Springlakegirl Member Posts: 216
    edited January 2014

    You will get there!  Keep your head up and know that you will be a stronger person when you are done with this!  Sending good thoughts your way!!

    deniseneish.com

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  • Morwenna
    Morwenna Member Posts: 1,063
    edited January 2014

    Two days ago I was the same ..... got very angry with everything, sooooo tired of cancer, and everything to do with it.

    Today, for no particular reason, I am almost euphoric. I'm scaring my cats! :)

    Talk about roller-coasters! ;)

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  • emmahandy
    emmahandy Member Posts: 5
    edited January 2014

    lol Morwenna.  Thanks for sharing.

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  • momand2kids
    momand2kids Member Posts: 1,508
    edited January 2014

    in 2009 my onc said-- we can cure this---

    I fully expect, when I see her in May at the 5.5. year mark that I will go off femara and maybe make plans to see her annually like my pcp and gyn.... that is OK with me.

    I have considered myself cured since the surgery/treatment.  I know it could return, but the odds are on our side... so I decided that it won't.. and if it does, I will deal with it then....

    The further away you get from it, the further away you are!!!

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  • emmahandy
    emmahandy Member Posts: 5
    edited January 2014

    I saw a gyn once when I started Tamoxifen but she said it was not necessary to see a gyn.  Cool with me.  The fewer docs the better.  Why did you take Femera rather than Tamoxifen, momand2kids?

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  • momand2kids
    momand2kids Member Posts: 1,508
    edited February 2014

    emma

    took femara and lupron because I had had a blood clot years ago and did not want to risk that with tamoxifen.... 

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  • RaiderGirl
    RaiderGirl Member Posts: 419
    edited September 2014

    I was told by not one but two MO that bc as well as other cancers are never cured.  The definition of cured is "permanently freed from illness".  However, unlike some cancers,  bc patients can celebrate remission until old age or something else calls our number. As for BC with mets, even remission is not possible but treatment can keep the beast leased until hopefully old age gets you first. 

    Somehow I am ok with the term remission. 

    Remission is good. I have opened the door for her and asked her to sit a spell. 

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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited September 2014

    I found listening to the BCO podcast from last December's Breast Cancer Symposium very uplifting. The BCO medical advisor uses the words cure and curative quite often. Look, I know it can come back, but until it does I've decided I'm cured. If you haven't listened to the podcasts you should. They are really interesting. http://www.breastcancer.org/community/podcasts/sa...

    I hope you are having a good day. I'd better get off my butt and do something today. I've got a lot of living to do. 

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  • Walden1
    Walden1 Member Posts: 202
    edited November 2018

    Hi, I’ve also been wondering what it would take for my MO to say definitively “YOU ARE CURED!”. My mother had triple negative twenty years ago and they told her “you are considered cured after 5 years. Being highly ER PR positive I get the impression I will never have that kind of reassurance.

    When I get in this mood I try to remember the advice I heard from an MO online who said “I tell my patients they are survivors from the day they are diagnosed”. I take comfort in his comment because just getting diagnosed is a significant part of the battle, and I’m so lucky I found it. I say luck because my mammogram couldn’t find my two-2cm tumours due to breast density. If I hadn’t felt them they might never have been found. Sometimes I get really angry that the mammogram didn’t work for me, and I wasn’t advised about other screening options for dense breasts and my personal risk due to family history. That said, what matters is that it was found, and from that point of view, I do already feel like a survivor.

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  • Traveltext
    Traveltext Member Posts: 2,089
    edited November 2018

    My onc said I’m cured when the cancer cells are out of my body. When asked if that was possible, she said not currently. She’s not known for her bedside manner! I’m happy with the term remission and am hoping stay there!


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  • edwards750
    edwards750 Member Posts: 3,761
    edited November 2018

    I’ve heard multiple times there is no cure. I’m okay with remission I guess because I know it’s a temporary state and the beast could come back but I refuse to live my life agonizing over the possibility.

    I’ve also heard about the 5 year milestone and in fact when I reached the 5 year mark my MO told me I could stop taking Tamoxifen. Yea! I don’t see her anymore. I have my annual mammo but that’s it. I am 7 years out last August.

    So maybe we shouldn’t mince words whether it’s cured or remission and be grateful we have dodged the dreaded beast’s return so far.

    Diane

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  • JoE777
    JoE777 Member Posts: 628
    edited November 2018

    My onc said I'm not curable, nor will there be remission, but she was adamant that the disease is manageable and treatable with many years of quality of life. No Evidence of Disease seems to bewhat she is saying and can take that and run with it

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